Dairy Checkoff Working with Entrepreneurs to Address Industry Challenges

Dairy Management Inc. has entered a partnership that will provide access to a network of inventors and entrepreneurs. The network is tasked with providing marketplace solutions for industry challenges focused on health and sustainability. DMI is partnering with Venture Winston Grants, which has designed a competition where startup companies can apply for funding that will allow them to incorporate dairy into their concepts in one of four areas. The areas include health and nutrition, biobased products, smart communities of the future and regenerative agriculture.

Dwyer Williams, chief transformation officer for DMI, said, “We want to disrupt the marketplace before we’re disrupted and that requires looking for unexpected partners outside of the dairy industry.”

The process is underway to identify potential startups who are a match for DMI’s four focus areas, with the expectation to have the winners named in January 2022. Barnes says once a technology is completed, it could take two to three years to have concepts commercialized and in the marketplace.

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